The cables begin as a cluster of strands of tiny threads of glass fibres. Companies have typically pooled their resources to collaborate on undersea cable projects, like a freeway for them all to share. “People think that data is in the cloud, but it’s not,” said Jayne Stowell, who oversees construction of Google’s undersea cable projects. Amazon, Facebook and Microsoft have invested in others, connecting data centers in North America, South America, Asia, Europe and Africa, according to TeleGeography, a research firm. Countries view the undersea cables as critical infrastructure and the projects have been flash points in geopolitical disputes.

Source: Daily Nation March 12, 2019 08:39 UTC